The Chinese year 4711 begins on Feb 10, 2013 - Year of the SnakePope Benedict XVI resigns after meeting Prince Albert II of MonacoGerman Knight of Malta appointed to head scandal-hit Vatican bank VATICAN CITY | Fri Feb 15, 2013 (Reuters) - The Vatican appointed a German lawyer to head its bank on Friday, but the bid to turn the fortunes of the scandal-hit institution was clouded by his business links to a military shipbuilder.

As chairman of the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), Ernst von Freyberg will head efforts to improve the image of the Vatican's bank which is under investigation for money laundering and has been without a head for nine months.

But within minutes of announcing his appointment, the Vatican faced a new public relations challenge when asked to explain Freyberg's chairmanship of Blohm + Voss, a Hamburg-based shipbuilder in which he is a minority shareholder.

Reporters asked Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi how the Church could justify hiring someone who worked for a company with a long history of making warships, including for Nazi Germany.

Lombardi said the fact that Freyberg organized pilgrimages to the shrine at Lourdes and was a Knight of Malta was proof he had the "considerable human and Christian sensibility" needed for his new role.

In a further clarification, the Vatican said that when Blohm + Voss's work on the four warships is complete, the company "will be 100 percent non-military".

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Horace Greeley Hjalmar Schacht (22 January 1877 -- 3 June 1970) was a German economist, banker, liberal politician, and co-founder in 1918 of the German Democratic Party. He served as the Currency Commissioner and President of the Reichsbank under the Weimar Republic.

I think it's going to rain.We'd better look for shelter.Peter, don't you think so?What troubles you? You've hardly spoken all morning.oh, I'm sorry, Nazarius.Are you very tired?My mind is as heavy as my body.There is something wrong... With our people, perhaps.I need our lord's counsel.If only he would speak to me...

Look! Those treetops there.They do not bend with the wind.Yes, that is so.

That sudden brightness coming...Do you see it, Nazarius?It is the light of the lord.I have seen it.Christ Jesus, you are here.What is wrong, o lord?What should I do?I am weary.How should I follow thee now?Quo Vadis, Domine?

Whither Goest Thoug, lord?

My people in Rome...Have need of thee.What did you say, Nazarius?My people in Rome have need of thee.If thou desert my people,I shall go to RomeTo be crucified a second time.

Nazarius, blessed child, speak on!Speak! oh Peter, you've stumbled.

Say the words again.I didn't say anything.You said, "if thou desert my people,"I shall go to Rome To be crucified a second time. "But I said nothing.Yes.He has again spoken to me.come, Nazarius.Where are you going?

Quo vadis? is a Latin phrase meaning "Where are you going?" or "Whither goest thou?"

The modern usage of the phrase refers to a Christian tradition regarding Saint Peter. According to the apocryphal Acts of Peter (Vercelli Acts XXXV[1]), Peter is fleeing from likely crucifixion in Rome at the hands of the government, and along the road outside the city he meets a risen Jesus. Peter asks Jesus "Quo vadis?", to which He replies, "Romam vado iterum crucifigi." ("I am going to Rome to be crucified again"). Peter thereby gains the courage to continue his ministry and returns to the city, to eventually be martyred by being crucified upside-down.